About Lynette
My name is Lynette, and this is my story
In 2015 I was a like any other mum juggling home life with working full time and progressing my career I was 37 feeling good about life. Then following a family holiday I took a pain in my breast and after a referral for a mammogram I was told I had breast cancer and my world was suddenly and drastically turned upside down.
Over the next few months to follow I recieved further bad news as the cancer was in both breasts. With a young family I was devastated however started my chemo determined to carry on as normal as possible for the kids.
The worst was yet to come….
Devastatingly for us following a period of headaches I was told the cancer had spread to my brain and I underwent my first brain operation in 2016.
Unfotunately in 2017 the bad news continued as another two tumours were discovered in my brain and a number in my lymph nodes in my neck and collarbone at this stage I felt it was best to apply for ill health retirement from my career.
Over three years I had a lumpectomy, double mastectomy, 2 craniotomies, stereotactic radiotherapy in brain, 5 sessions of whole brain radiotherapy, 14 cycles of chemotherapy, 19 blood transfusions and treatment for sepsis. Miraculously in 2018 I was told I had No Evidence of Active Disease and have continued to be since.
Chemotherapy – the side effects
During my treatment I suffered many side effects from chemo, radiotherapy, and numerous surgeries I needed so I looked for natural ways to help me heal from the side effects and discovered many natural ingredients such as herbs, mushrooms, turmeric, ginger, garlic to name a few. All these ingredients have been used for centuries for their natural healing properties. I also learned that our guts which we tend to neglect plays a major part in our overall health.
Creating a new focus
In November 2019 after a year of clear scans I decided to give myself a new focus and decided I would make bone broth and launched my new brand and business Spear and Arrow with the help of an Innovation Voucher from Invest NI. The journey began with the focus on product development and the voucher afforded me access to expertise from a local Food Technology College.
People ask me why the name Spear and Arrow? Well, that’s simple, bone broth has been used for millennia by our ancestors and can be traced back to the Palaeolithic era also called the Old Stone Age (circa 3 million years ago) where the cavemen who hunted and killed their prey did so with spears and arrows. They understood the importance of zero waste and used every single part of the animal to feed on including using its stomach to boil the bones of the carcass over the fire to make bone broth.